A typical day at Agape

Hi Everyone!
So Some of you having been asking me(mainly mum)what exactly we are doing on a day to day basis at Agape. So I thought I'd fill you all in. On a normal day we wake up around 7 eat breakfast in our backyard and watch the sunrise over the mountains(the perfect way to start any day if you ask me). Then we either walk to Agape from our volunteer house, which is about an hour or if we are lucky get a ride from "slow" who works for Agape and drives all the kids to school.Today we rode with the kids to school and crammed all 38 of us into the van, unsafe yes but anything goes here haha. Every morning we pick up fruit from the market for the children so they can have a snack when they get home from school. Since all of the food at Agape is donated from the local grocery stores and is food that is past the selling date they otherwise wouldn't get to have fresh fruit. When we get to Agape the little preschool kids are all anxiously awaiting our arrival and love the attention they all get. A big part of what we do as volunteers is spending time with the children watching over the 20 odd kids that are always running around. There are a few house
" Aunties" who do most of the cooking but they are usually too busy to look after all the children so that's where we come in. Living in an orphanage the children need all the love and attention they can get. At noon we feed them all lunch(much of which ends up on the floor or on us)but its still a hilarious time of the day. After lunch we help them brush their teeth in a communal tooth-brushing circle ( see picture below) which is also so funny to watch because they end up getting water all over each other when they spit out their water every which way. Next is nap time and then there are usually some dishes to do or laundry to help with before we have our lunch. The older kids come home from school around 3 and then they have their snack and we have " homework class" where we help them with their school work. This is one of the most rewarding times of the day because I think in Canada many of us as children, took forgranted having parents to help us with our homework every night. The kids all work really hard and are very ambitious some want to be doctors and others social workers and many singers( I think in part due to their amazing choir). However, many of them are behind in school and need extra help catching up. Also English is their second language( after Zulu) so they really need our help with their English homework and reading. It's also really interesting to see the work they do in school on AIDs prevention and abuse awareness. It even starts as early as grade 1 where one girl I was working with had to circle the pictures of what activities are safe to do and what are not(in relation to the spred of AIDS). Twice a week we have a few of the older kids over for dinner where we cook with them and try to help them learn about social situations because some of them when they came to Agape didn't even know how to use a knife and fork. I love this time with the older kids but it can also be upsetting when you see how hungery they still are. For example one girl came over for dinner and ate so much spagetti that she got sick in the bathroom but then came back and continued to eat desert. There are some really sad moments like that one but for the most part the kids at Agape are really happy and lucky and they realize that and don't take anything forgranted.

Yesterday we visted some of the other be-more projects. One of them called "bobbi bear" is a project that is centered around helping sexually abused children explain what happened to them but showing it on a teddy bear. We had a presentation from the founder of bobbi bear, a women named Jacki. She told us many stories of cases she had with sexually abused children. These stories were not easy to hear but I'm glad that she shared them with us as it helped us all gain a better perspective of what a huge problem sexually abuse is in South Africa for many women and children. Jackie's work with bobbi bear also helps some of the children recieve the neccissary post exposure profolactics to prevent them from getting infected with HIV. PEP's are a form of medication that prevent the spread of AIDS in the patient if they are taken within 72 hours of the contact with the bodily fluids.

Another project we were able to see yesterday was one where volunteers from bobbi bear and mother of peace (another care center for children) set up a weekly meeting under a large tree where women can come and learn all about HIV/AIDS for free. They also offer emergency care and give out fdonations of food and clothing. Even though 80% of the women who attend the meetings are HIV postive and very sick they get dressed up and look there best to shwo that even though many are dying they still will live thier lives as best they can for as long as they can. All and all yesterday was a very saddening day but a very uplifting one as well.

thats all for now though my internet time is quickly running out!

take care everyone!
xoxo
Margo

p.s the women in the first picture is "kgokgo" the founder of Agape.

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